Cris Carter weighs in on whether Bill Belichick's legacy is tainted by scandal

Published Feb. 1, 2017 4:32 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

In his seventh Super Bowl appearance as coach of the New England Patriots (Sunday, 6:00 PM ET, FOX and FOX Sports GO), Bill Belichick is staking his claim as the greatest head coach in NFL history.

Yet as his critics will quickly point out, there are several dark moments in Belichick's otherwise sterling legacy. We're talking, of course, about the twin scandals that were "Spygate" and "Deflategate." The question surrounding Belichick's quest for another Super Bowl title is whether his reputation is tarnished by those missteps.

If you're looking for the best answer, we have you covered thanks to an NFL Hall of Famer. On Wednesday's Facebook Live episode of the Make Me Smarter podcast with Nick Wright and Cris Carter, the latter explained just how we'll remember Belichick and all of his accomplishments.

https://www.facebook.com/FOXSports1/videos/1126298267495627/

CRIS: People talk about what effect does it have on his legacy? Well, it will always be in the conversation. So that is the effect. You don't talk about Vince Lombardi, you don't mention those things. When you talk about Don Shula, you don't have those things. With Bill Belichick, with the trophies, with the wins, with all that, you have to talk about those investigations, because he was right at the head of those investigations, and it involved getting an unfair advantage.

So you have to include that in the story. You just can't sweep it under the rug like it didn't happen. ... Do I think he's one of the greatest coaches, if not the greatest coach? Absolutely. But anytime I have the conversation, and people bring it up, I can't act as if it's irrelevant.

As Wright points out, though, the Patriots aren't the only team to be disciplined by the NFL for breaking the rules. In fact, right around the same time as Deflategate, the Atlanta Falcons were punished for using artificial crowd noise at home, while the Cleveland Browns were caught using cell phones during games in violation of NFL policy. With that being the case, Wright asks Carter if we're more concerned with the criminal than the crime.

Carter allows there's some consideration of that point, but the Patriots made things worse for themselves by refusing to play ball with the NFL.

CRIS: It's a good point, as far as Atlanta, what they did with crowd noise, and Cleveland. But the NFL and their operations, through their investigation, Atlanta cooperated. Atlanta admitted fault. They cooperated with the investigation. They still got fined, they still lost draft picks, and the guy lost his job. In Cleveland, the general manager got suspended, the team got fined, and they lost draft picks. In New England, they did not cooperate.

... Had [the Patriots] cooperated, I don't think Tom Brady would have been suspended. ... That's my educated guess.